What happens when the culmination of a season's hard work comes with a personal revelation and a whimsical love for Kmart’s trendsetting range? That's what we’re about to unfold as we wrap up the first season of our podcast. We toast to the end of an amazing season and to a personal milestone - a month of sobriety (though it's not for keeps!). We celebrate this achievement with a Terra Sancta wine box subscription and a lazy girl lasagna, because why not?
As we reflect on our journey, we marvel at the strides made, the lessons learned, and the support received. We delve into the charm of Kmart’s trendy makeup, clothing, footwear, and the absolute joy of finding the sought-after Christmas cookie candles. We also explore an alternative to coffee, a cold brew device from Kmart. Plus, we reminisce about an iPhone ringtone experiment that led to the creation of our cowboy-inspired intro. So, buckle up as we bid adieu to season one and journey towards an even more exciting season two.
What happens when the culmination of a season's hard work comes with a personal revelation and a whimsical love for Kmart’s trendsetting range? That's what we’re about to unfold as we wrap up the first season of our podcast. We toast to the end of an amazing season and to a personal milestone - a month of sobriety (though it's not for keeps!). We celebrate this achievement with a Terra Sancta wine box subscription and a lazy girl lasagna, because why not?
As we reflect on our journey, we marvel at the strides made, the lessons learned, and the support received. We delve into the charm of Kmart’s trendy makeup, clothing, footwear, and the absolute joy of finding the sought-after Christmas cookie candles. We also explore an alternative to coffee, a cold brew device from Kmart. Plus, we reminisce about an iPhone ringtone experiment that led to the creation of our cowboy-inspired intro. So, buckle up as we bid adieu to season one and journey towards an even more exciting season two.
Hey everyone, welcome back. It is a Danny Dot podcast. I have the noise cancellation up on high today because in Cromwell we have this weird wind happening and I have a window open and there's this like squealing going on. Oh my gosh, I was like this is not going to go down. Well, I could shut the window. I know you're all saying that. Yeah, I get it. Um, hey, so guess what is pod number 25? Who would have thought I'd be at the 25th pod by October? What I wish I could say the same about, like reading books, this is my 25th book of the year. No, but this is just going to be a cheeky wrap up pod, just because I am calling it end of season one.
Speaker 1:
And the reason why I'm doing this is because there is a few technical changes coming up and your girl never went to uni. She doesn't know how to study and, quite frankly, these changes mean that I have to take a hot minute to learn. And I sort of took a little bit of a back seat and thought well, at the same time as changing a few things, because I believe Google podcast is becoming obsolete. I don't know what this means yet. I've got a couple of emails I haven't deep dove into it just because I've been busy. However, I don't want to half ask anything and I feel like this is that time where I can take a wee break at the safe number number 25. We're not piking out at number seven and actually just like take a bit of time to learn and grow and be better coming into season two, which I find is completely something that we can justify. So I am calling this the end of season one and I'm a little bit like so proud of myself. I'm not even going to lie. I'm not sad about this. We have achieved so much. However, the support has definitely delivered most recently, and I have so many new topics to discuss and I am just ready for this. So not only has my content creator and mentor just sort of you know, had a few tidbits on what I could do better. I want to embrace this because the pod you guys have been the OG since day dot, those that have stuck around, and I want to do this better. So that doesn't just come with a really great soundboard, it actually comes with a bit of learning, and I want to take up the time to do this.
Speaker 1:
So this is a shorter pod and I just wanted to sort of give you all an update. It was the first of October yesterday and I am going to have a little bit of a shout out to everyone. Guys, it was Sunday I had this influx of Danny Dot messages on my Instagram for people that had changed their toothbrush. This warms the cockles. Oh my gosh. Not only is like I feel like I should like reap the benefits here from Colgate toothbrushes or something, but the amount of you that actually like took on the whole change of month change of toothbrush scenario. I'm so proud of everyone. He has to clean mouths and bloody 2024. No, I'm kidding, but that was really fun. So, as I was the first of October and used new month, knew everything else and I think throughout this pod, I've sort of given a little bit of a brief insight as to having house refreshers and you know, change of seasons and blah, blah, blah, all the things that sort of settle in and make you all feel like new month, new me kind of vibe and this toothbrush thing. It made me happy so I will touch on that. It is very exciting.
Speaker 1:
Just quickly, the wine of the week. Well, something I actually haven't even been vocal about on my own social media to my own friends and family is I am sober one month, tomorrow, one whole month, and I know that I wasn't going to fall off the wagon, because this time it was different. It wasn't something I planned to do, it was more for my health and well being. Being on strange medication, I had to get a grip with some things and I can honestly say I've done it and it hasn't been hard. I've actually really enjoyed it and the way that I sort of see myself in achieving this was actually every time I reached to. You know, have cheese and crackers or something that you would pair with an alcohol beverage after work. You know those wine, down wines. I would just have something really strange to drink, like kombucha or a smoothie, just weird substances in the drink form. And all of a sudden the month was over and so I have made the executive decision to not continue being sober, like you know, making it a thing I don't want to say to my mom. Oh, you know, it's week five, it doesn't matter. Everything in moderation is the way I'm seeing it. I'm also coming off while I'm trying to come down, off some medication for my knee, so my wine of the week is actually I told you guys this a million times trust the timing of your life.
Speaker 1:
And tomorrow I get my Terra Sancta wine box subscription delivered. I feel it's only necessary to crack maybe the 2023 Rose essay. I have not tried any of the wines for this season, so I'm super excited. But also, I normally go out to the winery and taste everything before I get the box, because then I'm like yep, like that one. Yep, that one's probably not the top of my list, so I'll drink that just on a whim on a Friday or whatever. However, this box is kind of exciting, so I have made the decision to have a lazy girl lasagna, and when I say this, it's just a deconstructed lasagna which is freaking Susan out, quite frankly, because she is the queen of lasagnas. I would call her Nonna in the Italian sense, but she has the lasagna thing down patch. However, I came across a recipe for a lazy girl lasagna and that's just. I thought about it and I was like yep, either that with the 2023 Rose or a slapjack block Pinot Noir. I am a happy girl. So that's what's happening tomorrow and that's obviously going to be the wine of the week is a Terra Sancta wine. Whichever one I choose, don't know.
Speaker 1:
But off the bat of the one month being sober I'm not saying that I had any mental clarity, I definitely had brain fog from the stupid medication. However, the energy was twofold, like I was trying to rest, but super energetic, which bothered me. But my face broke out in like heaps of acne. And when I deep dove into the effects of when you stop drinking alcohol and the sugar, the lack of sugar and what it does to your skin care, I was like oh no. But I caught up with a very good friend of mine yesterday and she was having the same things happen and she was like I've totally stopped having sugar as well. And I just sat there and I was like Look, I could put it down to a million things. It's not stress, because this girl ain't stressed right now, she's on Easy Street, but I would say definitely cutting back on the sugar. The boxes of RTDs on the weekend are in the past and your girl is happily like dealing with this acne at the moment, which I feel like I'm turning a corner with.
Speaker 1:
I don't know, but do I sort of recommend it? Well, a lot of people have said to me like why, why are you doing this. Well, it wasn't a case of why, as opposed to the fact that everyone said you know you're not just dealing with panadol here, danny trimadol, and you don't drink when you're on trimadol. So I took people's advice and I settled in and didn't touch alcohol for the month, so super proud. It was very easy and everything in moderation, moving forward. But yeah, that was really interesting, especially for someone like me who just loves cheese, wine, catching up, those types of things. That it was just I don't know. I did it without the wine. I have a new thing. I definitely want to sort of chuck this out there.
Speaker 1:
I have insecurities with my eyes. I have hooded eyelids, which is something I honestly, I'm not about to trigger you as I would say oh my God, go check your eyelids, you might have double eyelids. When I was born, my eyelashes were not attached to my eyelid and they had to do surgery and I have like a hooded eye which no one can tell. I have never had a friend say to me there's something not symmetry about your eyes which is wild. But I was on TikTok the other day and I came across a product called eye tapes, which basically is a skin colored tape that you pop onto your eyelid and it's really big in the Asian community because of their eye shape. But white people I'm not being like culturally insensitive when I say this, but anyone can use these and I think it's just one of those things that it's been big in different cultures. But I am so impressed. Not only has it lifted my eyelid and not given me this double hood, but the makeup application and making me have these really great eyes. That pop is everything I've ever dreamed of, Especially moving into the summer season where I really want to embrace like winged eyeliner and fake eyelashes and all the makeup, because I'm going on a Melbourne Cup cruise and I get to like deep dive into things that make me feel really, really good and go shopping in Melbourne and my cousins over there.
Speaker 1:
And she's a makeup artist oh my gosh. I want all the tips and I would actually smuggle her on board just so that she could let do my Melbourne Cup makeup, but I can't. However, I am learning this on my own and I definitely recommend eye tapes. I actually am going to try them on Susan, or you know what I'm going to see. If she can tell that I'm wearing them right now. I actually have them on right now and I'm really. You know, when you do something for yourself and you feel really good about it, I'm like I'm just beaming. I'm absolutely beaming. It cracks me up. I recommend it. If you think you've got hooded eyelids, check it out. You can Google it, go on TikTok. All those social media platforms will definitely tell you and help advise you. I got the tapes from a Asian store in Queenstown. I know I say that's really terrible, but I just wanted to try. I don't want to like invest in anything. So, yeah, I got it from Look Sharp in Queenstown, which isn't really an Asian shop, I apologize. It's more just a store that's got heaps of different things that we wouldn't really necessarily think to buy.
Speaker 1:
I suppose I could say my knee update for everyone asking. I have an appointment on the 9th of October. I officially started physio last Thursday. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. It was just one of those discomfort things where I was asked to do things that I haven't done for a month on my leg and it was a month since I did the injury. So obviously I had to double the medication a little bit because I was like ow. The weird thing was is that they actually said that. What they recommended that I still ice my knee at night, which I was like what? No, I'm not going to ice my knee before bed, that's weird but that there would still be inflammation. So it would still be causing these stabbing hot poker pains in my knee area. However, the physio has said that it is on top of the MCL being torn. It is also a cartilage thing, so I have to strength train and get like get that cartilage back into being stronger, which doesn't interest me. Of course I would do it, but I'm like, oh, she's sent me home with some exercises and I was like so I did them, but the next day I was like that's all A couple of TikTok ideas.
Speaker 1:
It's so weird when you see something on social media and you're like, yes, that is what I have had on my mind as something I've wanted for ages. Then you go and Google it and you're like, yep, it'll be somewhere weird like Sheen or Team U or AliExpress. No, at the moment, everything I have been looking up is leading me to Kmart. There just arrived like cartons of stuff that have come into New Zealand is diabolical. I highly recommend a trip to Kmart right now. Not only have they got Halloween stuff and Christmas things, but even their makeup and clothing and footwear. It's like a whole other level. It's kind of like they are like two steps ahead in watching what we're watching on trending items, for you know TikTok, team U and Sheen for homewares, and they already have it. So I am very impressed.
Speaker 1:
However, there is an ice coffee machine. I don't doubt that a lot of people have come across this recently. Don't buy it. Not only is it not really what it does, it's more a percolator. So it's kind of like cold drip, where you put the water and the coffee in the top of the device and it drips into your cup. I don't believe you should be paying $45 for something. You still have to take the cup out and add the water because essentially it's not crushing the ice, it's not turning it into a frappuccino, it's just percolating the water and the coffee to make ice coffee onto the ice, like it's stupid.
Speaker 1:
However, I have come across a cold brew device because, moving into the summer seasons here in Central Otago, I definitely want to recommend cold brew. If you are not a coffee person, fast forward a little bit. But there is this really great kitchen aid device that sits in your fridge where you pour like coffee I think it's coffee grounds and hot water, and then you sit it in your fridge. It looks like a jug, but it just makes cold brew coffee and I am all about that. Oh my gosh, it makes me so happy. However, there is a cheap version because the kitchen aid one is about $220. It's just more for aesthetics. It looks beautiful. However, there is a $15 one at Kmart. It is a jug. You put your coffee grounds in the center of it and you pour your hot water on it. It turns it into cold brew if you put it in the fridge. So you do, you boo. But I am all about Kmart at the moment.
Speaker 1:
I stalked the website for the Christmas cookie candle and I can successfully say I have managed to get my hands on all of the flavors which last year I was psycho about. I was going to like rob people's trolleys. That's how much I wanted these stupid candles. So Friday last week, when I found out that they were in Australia, I was on the New Zealand Kmart website and I was stalking like not Ali, I would say three times a day Friday, saturday and I managed to get them. Not only did I get super excited. I didn't tell anyone because I was like what, if I want more, they're going to sell out. But no, I told my friends in Australia and they all got them as well. So happy days. But I just yeah, massive shout out to Kmart for being ahead of the game. Right now I'm so impressed. It's not going to do well on my bank balance, but at the end of the day, your girl hates budgeting, thank you, it is what it is and came out office after pay. So who cares girl math paid off in foreign storements, but no, that's definitely something I just wanted to touch on as well.
Speaker 1:
Cracks me up when it comes to this whole end of season one stuff and upgrading my podcast, the wrap up that I just wanted to talk about quickly. What have we learned? Well, I was reminiscing last night and out of the 25 pods, I've only listened to one and that was the Danny Haley pod, number three. What was it? Number two, I feel like it was number three. We both got a little bit tiddly bit drunk.
Speaker 1:
I was so excited, I got really warm and fuzzy really fast and I don't know, just talking shit. It wasn't shit, it was constructive, but I had to listen back to that podcast because I was so nervous that I dropped my address in there. I was like damn it. But anyway, talking with a friend yesterday she was like it's one of those things where I love just putting this pod out there and hearing the responses from everyone. It's such it's my thing and I've decided this podcast is my thing, it's definitely my hobby. But yeah, the one time I had to listen back was that one, which I didn't give my address away, but I nearly did, which is kind of annoying because at the end of the day, I know I've had offers to have things sent to me and I'm like no, no one's getting my address. It doesn't matter, I'm working on getting a Pia box, so that's fine.
Speaker 1:
This has definitely been the beginning, though, of the Danny Dope pod and for the OG listeners that have been there since the Exilephone at the start, the amount of feedback. So we're like, are you sitting there with an Exilephone dinging with the little sticks? It still makes me laugh. No, it actually was a ringtone on iPhone and I would just randomly play it and then I would try and jump in and start talking and make it really natural sounding. That's a little secret for you, but it didn't last long, just because my mentor was like yo, what are you doing? Sounds horrendous. So we changed it. The intro that I have now reminds me of like a cowboy situation, like entering a saloon and I love like cowboy inspired bars and things like it's just, it's me so. Also when, many, many moons ago I'd say like 10, maybe 10, 11, 12 years ago, queenstown had this competition called Thriller and the Chiller and you used to go up against, in the boxing sense, against someone in town and we always had this joke that, because I work for Vodafone, I would go up against the Telecom Girl, which is now Spark Telco vs Telco, and there was always this big discussion about what would be the music you'd come out of the tunnel to and I don't know.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes I listen to my podcast, intramusic, and it's very like oh yeah, it's not soft, so it's almost empowering. Some people are a bit wishy washy. I was listening to a podcast the other day and a girl just started talking and I was like wait, what's happening? Where's the intro? I have listened to about 65 podcasts last week and I want to try and beat it and do 70 this week, so I've got stuff to do today, but obviously listening to other people and how they do things makes me excited for what season 2 looks like, and it's definitely one of those things that I want to structure a lot better. I feel like I leave it. I honestly could release a podcast on Friday. Well, no, I could record a podcast on Friday, but things happen on the weekend that I want to discuss and that's just something I have to reign in a little bit, because my structure it just needs a bit of fine tuning and also how I structure what I talk about.
Speaker 1:
I get really excited and I divert. I'm like a friggin magpie looking at something shiny. I'm like whoa got to talk about that next, can't? The engagement is definitely going to be heightened with more social media interactions. My Instagram, I feel, has just been there for topics and things where people can pick and choose as to what pod they want to listen to. There was a couple of sound bites there for a minute, but it's not where I normally have my social media at like it's best, so I definitely want to spend more time on that and I am going to apply an end song and have more of an engaging, better introduction. So there's a lot, not only with this whole changeover from Google podcast to YouTube pods and being more accessible on TikTok audio wise.
Speaker 1:
I don't know how long I'm going to take a break for just to get my head around it, because October is kind of my quiet month, where I get to explore different things and study what I want to do more for this, but also November is so hectic for me. I've got so much happening and there's so many opportunities to have guests on the pod, so I've got to get this sorted. Guys, I hope you can understand and just sort of be with me. It's not ideal, but I want to do this the right way and not the really like half assed way. As I keep saying, your girl deserves to do this professionally, and so we're going to come back better and more structured and definitely have more facts, because I feel like when I have a topic I want to talk about it, I only skim the surface, because I'm very conscious of the fact that I can drag shit out for over an hour and a half and no one needs that. So this is where I'm going to end it today about 20 minutes more or less, just a wee wind down podcast number 25 and to let you know what's coming up. But I will definitely reach out and let you know via socials when I come back for season two. Hang with me, I promise, it'll be definitely worth it.
Speaker 1:
You have given me so much confidence and support and even my way of talking has changed because of the confidence that you've given me to just keep going, and I think it comes with. You know how many I've put out. But let's get really to deep dive on some really fun topics where we can I don't know just engage and like laugh about shit, because I've been through the ringer a little bit this year and I'm ready just to fuck shit up. No, not in a bad sense, but I have a lot of stories that I want to tell and I've been holding back and I don't know why, but it's just one of those things that I didn't feel confident to explain and now I do. So, in saying that, all the best with the coming days, weeks, I don't know, I don't think it will be a month, but I will be back and take care, have a drink for Danny Dot, as we do. But yeah, catch you around, I'll see you soon. Bye, 잘�lo.